In Case of Emergency
by sugah66
Summary: This is how Danny really found out about Lindsay. Missing scene of sorts from Sweet Sixteen. DL. Oneshot.


**TITLE: In Case of Emergency  
****AUTHOR: Sugah  
****SUMMARY: This is how Danny really found out about Lindsay.  
****SPOILERS: "Sweet Sixteen" 3x10  
****PAIRING: D/L all the way, baby!  
****RATING: T – the swearing is bad but, damn, I'm sick of giving my fics M ratings. If it really offends you, well, then, don't read it.  
****DISCLAIMER: If they were mine, Danny would have stormed into that hospital, demanding to see Lindsay. Since he didn't, they aren't mine. Damn.  
****AUTHOR'S NOTE: While I was thrilled that they even had a scene where Danny asked about Lindsay, when they could have just completely ignored the whole thing (which they basically ended up doing anyway), I was disappointed that that one little scene on the stairs was the only thing we got. So, I wrote my own. Take that, TPTB! **

**I did a Google search, and I found out that the Jacobi Medical Center serves as the snakebite center for the tri-state area. So I imagine that's where they took Lindsay. **

**I think I got the timeline off, but does it really matter? **

**Unbeta'd, so all mistakes are my own. **

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In Case of Emergency

Danny stared at the woman before him, who was relating the merits of racing pigeons to himself, Mac, and Flack. Danny could only stare. Racing pigeons. He honestly could not fathom how important that was not in real life. When would he ever need to race pigeons? Seriously.

He nodded periodically and attempted to look interested. His eyes may have glazed over at one point, and he didn't realize he was staring at the woman until she winked at him and gave him a flirtatious smile. He blinked and looked away, unable to believe that he had unintentionally flirted. Shit, he was screwed.

Afterwards, as he and Mac loaded all of their equipment into the back of the car, the woman approached him.

"So," she said, her voice adopting that flirtatious tone that was all-too-familiar. She gently laid her fingers on his arm, and he froze. "I was wondering – "

He had never been happier to have his phone ring. It was annoying and shrill and couldn't have come at a better time. He flipped it open, trying not to furrow his brow – as he didn't recognize the number – and shot an apologetic glance at the woman. "I'm sorry," he said, waving his phone at her, "I really have to take this."

He didn't wait for her to respond and answered the call with, "Messer."

"Daniel Messer?" asked the voice on the other end – a woman with a thick Long Island accent.

"Yes," he said, dragging out the word. His eyes darted frantically around, struggling to remember if he had forgotten to pay any of his bills. He was positive that there was still money in his checking account, so that couldn't be the reason behind the call.

"This is the Jacobi Medical Center. We have a Lindsay Monroe in the emergency room."

"What?" Danny winced as his voice reverberated across the alley in which they'd parked, causing both Mac and Flack to look over at him. He tossed them an embarrassed smile and ducked his head, disappearing around one of the dumpsters.

"Lindsay Monroe?" The woman sounded genuinely confused. "It says here that you're her 'in case of emergency' contact, yeah?"

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. He had the sudden urge to vomit. Lindsay was in the ER? Oh, this was not good. She was on a case with Stella and Hawkes – had something happened to her? Oh, god. Oh, god. He was going to hyperventilate. He crouched down, putting his head between his knees and struggling to breathe. She had better be okay. She damn well better be okay.

"Mr. Messer?"

He belatedly remembered that he was still on the phone. He put it back to his ear and forced himself to speak. "What happened?" His mind was on overdrive, envisioning all the possible scenarios, each one more horrifying than the last. He flashed back to the serial bomber, then to the Holly case. If she wasn't okay… If she was hurt…

"She was bitten by a cobra."

His heart momentarily stopped beating. A cobra? Like, a snake kind of cobra? He dropped his head back, smacking it off the dumpster. _Of course a snake, you dumbass. How many other types of cobras are there, you goddamn idiot?_ His free hand balled into a fist so tightly that his fingernails dug into his palm, drawing blood. "Is she okay?"

Cobras were poisonous, weren't they? Oh, god, Lindsay had been poisoned. His sweet little Lindsay had been poisoned by a goddamn fucking cobra, and he couldn't be there with her. He was here, learning about racing fucking rats on wings with Mac and Flack. His legs burned from maintaining a crouch, and he finally just gave up, collapsing against the dumpster. How in the hell had a cobra gotten in New York City? And what the hell was it doing at Lindsay's crime scene? If he ever saw that damn snake, he was going to fry it up and serve it for dinner.

"She'll be fine. The doctor gave her an anti-venom injection, but cobra bites are only venomous about fifty-five percent of the time. The important thing is to remember to keep the dressing clean so that the bite doesn't become infected."

Danny nodded dumbly, not even really listening past, "She'll be fine." All that mattered was that Lindsay was all right. Nothing else was important. He found himself able to breathe again.

"Is she going to have to stay overnight or anything?" Danny asked after an extended period of silence.

"No, nothing like that. The doctor only needs to flush and dress the wound."

Danny froze as he heard footsteps approaching. He quickly thanked the woman and hung up, managing to get to his feet just as Flack appeared.

"Shit, Messer," Flack grumbled, giving him the once-over, "I was beginning to think you'd died or something." He nodded at Danny's phone. "What the hell was that about?"

Danny attempted to laugh, but it came out strangled, and when he glanced down at his phone, he saw that his fingers were clenching so tightly around it that his knuckles were turning white. He scrambled to think of a lie.

"Um… My sister thinks she's pregnant." He winced the second the words were out of his mouth. She ever found out he'd told someone she was pregnant – especially Flack, who was quite possibly the worst gossip in the NYPD – she'd clock him good. But he couldn't be concerned with that right now. He couldn't very well tell Flack the truth; the truth would get him into much more trouble than the lie would.

"Gina?" Flack asked, the skepticism evident in his tone. He pursed his lips after a beat and nodded. "Yeah, I guess I can see that."

Danny was far too worried about Lindsay to be upset that Flack had basically just called his sister a slut, but he made a mental note to punch him later. He walked back to the car with Flack, preoccupied with thoughts of Lindsay, sitting alone in the emergency room, probably scared out of her mind. She talked a good game, but she wasn't nearly as strong as she wanted people to think, and he knew she absolutely hated hospitals. That case a week or so ago, with the teenager who'd been suffocated by her own mother, had been extremely difficult for Lindsay, but she'd gutted it out like she always did. He was proud of her for that – but right now she didn't have to be strong, and he wanted to be there for her.

No chance of that happening, as he found out when he got back to the car.

"Pigeons belong to Ray Seeley," Mac told him. He pointed in what Danny assumed was the general direction of the pigeon guy's apartment. "He lives in Tribeca. We're headed there now."

Danny nodded. "Right."

He knew he should tell Mac that Lindsay was in the ER, but then he would have to explain how he had found out, and that wasn't a conversation he wanted to be having right now.

He sighed and climbed into the car. Mac had just started the engine when his cell phone rang. Danny had a pretty good idea what the call was about. He could only listen to Mac's end of the conversation. He couldn't tell who he was talking to, but he guessed it was Stella, and she was telling Mac about Lindsay. Mac was visibly upset by the news; Danny did his best to remain stoic. After all, he wasn't supposed to know what was going on.

When Mac finally hung up, Danny asked, "Everything all right, Mac?"

Mac shook his head and pulled the car out of the alley. "That was Stella. Lindsay was bitten by a snake."

"A snake?" Danny hoped his voice contained an appropriate amount of shock. He ought to be good at acting by now, considering. "Are you kidding me?" He brought a hand to his forehead, praying that Mac bought his act. "Well, is she okay?"

Mac lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "Stella didn't know anything. She was airlifted to the Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. I'm going to call them as soon as we get to Seeley's apartment, see if they can tell me anything."

Danny bit the inside of his cheek. Mac was obviously worried about Lindsay, and Danny felt terrible keeping her condition from his boss, but no way in hell was he about to confess to Mac that he and Lindsay had been secretly dating for the past month.

He still couldn't even believe how it happened. After she stood him up for dinner, essentially ripping out his heart, he thought things would never be the same between them. He thought he had totally fucked up his only chance to be with her. But then the Suicide Girl was murdered – the first case they worked together after that terrible conversation in the station – and everything changed.

She must have seen the way Nixon Suicide was hitting on him, or heard from one of the officers that she'd asked him out, because that night she showed up at his door, nearly in tears. She explained the reasons she'd been so hesitant to pursue a relationship with him, and then she kissed him until his head nearly exploded from lack of oxygen. He didn't have time to process the information – not when her tongue was in his mouth – but he was thrilled and honored that she had chosen to confide in him.

Here it was, a month later, and Danny couldn't remember a time when he wasn't with Lindsay. They spent every possible minute together, either at his place or her place, but she was still wary of taking things to the next level. She also didn't want to make a public proclamation until she was ready. So though Danny wanted to stand on the roof of the crime lab and declare it to the entire city, he respected her wishes and kept it quiet.

They arrived at Seeley's apartment building and spoke to the super, who explained that Seeley was usually on the roof, tending to his pigeons. While Danny talked to the guy, Mac called the Jacobi Medical Center, trying to get information on Lindsay's condition.

"How's Lindsay doing?" Danny asked once Mac had hung up. He pumped as much concern as he could into his voice, trying to sound nonchalant, like he was just worried about a coworker, and not terrified of the fact that the woman he loved was in the ER.

Mac repeated the words that the woman from the med center had said to him. "She'll be fine. She was treated with an anti-venom bolus."

Danny's hope that their talk with Seeley would be brief so that he could knock off early and go pick up Lindsay from the ER was shattered when they finally made it up to the roof and saw that Ray Seeley was lying dead in his pigeon coop. Danny sighed. This was going to be the longest day of his life, apparently.

While Mac was talking to the super, Danny took out his phone and quickly sent a text message to Lindsay. _You need me to pick you up?_

He waited for her response back at the lab, where he spent the rest of the day running prints from the crime scene and trying to match the tool marks from the victim's wounds to the murder weapon. He was on his way to tell Mac that he had discovered the identity of the kid the super had seen arguing with Seeley when his phone beeped. He flipped it open and read Lindsay's response.

_Stella volunteered already._

He sighed. He wanted to pick her up, make sure that she was okay. That woman on the phone, Mac, everyone telling him that she was all right wasn't good enough. He wouldn't be convinced that she was fine until he actually physically saw her. Until he could see her with his own eyes, hold her in his arms. He sent her another message. _I'll come over after shift._

He was just leaving Mac's office after delivering his report on the prints he'd uncovered from the murder weapon when his phone beeped again. He frowned when he read her response.

_No need._

Was she upset that he couldn't pick her up? It wasn't like he didn't want to. He was in the process of messaging her back when his phone beeped again.

_Look up, dumbass._

Confused, he glanced up. Lindsay was waving at him from the A/V lab. He couldn't contain the grin that threatened to split his face in two if his life depended on it. He should have figured that a snake bite wouldn't keep her out of the lab. She'd returned to work after being in an explosion and having a gun pointed in her face, so naturally a snake bite wouldn't even faze her.

It took a considerable amount of effort to refrain from running over to her. There were, after all, other people around. He settled for a brisk walk, which served its purpose. But then he had to resist the incredible urge to throw his arms around her the second he stepped into the room.

But he had to touch her. He had to. So he wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her flush against his chest. He fought the desire to press a kiss to her temple. "I wanted to take off the second I got the call."

She giggled, leaning her head back into the crook of his neck. "I figured."

He lightly ran his fingers along the bandage on her hand. "Are you okay?" He wouldn't believe it until he heard the words come out of her mouth.

"I'm fine, Danny," she said. She stepped out of his embrace to examine the monitors more closely. She turned to face him, grinning.

He couldn't help but smile. "Find something in your case?"

She nodded. "I'll have to page Hawkes. I think I found our murder weapon." She took a step towards him, so that they were almost nose-to-nose. "Did you…still want to come over tonight?"

He licked his lips. At the moment, he wanted that more than he wanted air. "You know it."

"Good. Because I was hoping you would stay the night."

His jaw dropped. He opened and closed his mouth several times, but no sounds came out of it. Had she really just said that? Did that mean…? "Really?"

She blushed all the way to her hairline and nodded, glancing away shyly. His heart melted at the look on her face. He gently cupped her cheek. "Lindsay, if you're not ready…"

She shook her head as he trailed off. "I wasn't, but after what happened…" She looked away again, then met his stare full force. "I don't want something to happen to either one of us, and we never gave it a shot." She raised herself up on her toes and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. "So, I'll see you tonight?" She didn't wait for his answer, dashing out of the A/V room, presumably to go find Hawkes.

Danny was in such a good mood the rest of the day, he didn't even care that he had to touch a pigeon.


End file.
